Hello Everyone,

All of those of you who had shares of Alcon which was merged with Novartis last year were involved in a very complicated transaction.

It was a cash plus stock merger and it was made more complicated because it was between foreign companies. There is a lot of confusion on how to account for it and report tax information for it amongst the brokers.

For example, originally the Swiss withheld foreign tax from the cash received when the merger happened in April. Then, in October, they refunded some of what they had withheld. TDAmeritrade is showing this refunded amount on their 1099's as a dividend. It is not a dividend. It is a refund that reduces the amount of foreign tax you had withheld and you should not be taxed on it as a dividend.

I have had one club just tell me that they have been successful in getting TDAmeritrade to correct their 1099. If your club owned shares involved in this merger and you use TDAmeritrade, you might want to check this out for yourselves.
If you use another broker, you might want to pay special attention to how they are reporting the gains and this foreign tax.

Please let us know in support@bivio.com if you'd like any help making sure your records are correct with regards to this merger and your tax reporting.

--
Laurie Frederiksen
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